Wood pellet stove servicing on Vancouver Island?

Rodeo, 8 months ago

One would think “struggling businesses” would be more willing to take on what should be profitable work.

What’s your source on them struggling? Because if it’s just something the owner said, it’s definitely bullshit.

Arghblarg, 8 months ago

What’s your source on them struggling?

Well, to be fair I was just being snarky there (I mean, if they can refuse business, they must not be that “struggling”, right?). All the ones I called either said

• ’we have not sold many the last few years, due to increasing pellet prices, so we decided to stop dealing in them’ (and repairing them, apparently!)

and/or

• ’they are high-maintenance so we don’t deal with them any more’

I find the second one curious, if they’re charging by the hour, one would think they would prefer things that need maintenance calls, more money that way right?

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This Harman’s a real beast though, heavy cast iron; and it was placed only a few inches from the wall, so I’ll have to get some help to lift it out and get those back plates off; or just splice the wires to the new ignitor from the front and wrap with some high-temp insulation.

jadero, 8 months ago

If you have to move it, try to not put it back where you started. We did a temporary install with ours while we built the addition where it was going to be permanently installed. That was enough for us to realize that we didn’t want to move it again before it was time to take it to the scrapyard, so we installed it with enough clearance to be able to work on it. (Although it’s getting harder as I get older and less flexible!)

I don’t know what model of Harmon you have, but changing the igniter on ours (PC-45) was pretty easy.

We’re in Saskatchewan. There is an amazing dealer in Yorkton who mails out any parts we need and who offers lots of really great usage and troubleshooting advice. It’s not like having a local dealer who will come out for service, but it’s better than nothing. Country Hearth & Comfort

If you find you’re going through igniters, you might have a weak air pump. Insufficient flow during the ignition cycle can cause slow ignition. That means the igniter is running longer than it should, reducing it’s life.

Arghblarg, 8 months ago

It’a an Accentra-2 – previous owners must have spent a lot on it. Very nice cast iron unit. It looks like it shouldn’t be too hard… if I can get it lifted away from the wall.

It is on its own raised corner island, with not much more room in front so I can’t really move it forward much unless I remodel; so it’ll have to go back where it is afterwards.

Thanks for the tips!

I’ll check the blower. I admit I hadn’t been vacuuming out the ignitor pot as often as I should, which was probably hard on it, but the wires themselves seemed to have a lot of wear on the insulation right where they go into the ignitor cylinder. At least 10 years old actually, incredible for an ignitor from what I have read.

jadero, 8 months ago

Ok, good luck!

Rodeo, 8 months ago

I find the second one curious, if they’re charging by the hour, one would think they would prefer things that need maintenance calls, more money that way right?

To me it sounds like there’s some other reason that doesn’t sound good to say to customers, so that’s the lie they made up instead. Because you’re right, it makes absolutely no fucking sense. And in my experience business owners spout all kinds of nonsensical bullshit when they’re trying to hide something.

BigDanishGuy, 8 months ago

Let me preface this by saying: I know the pain. Not being able to find repair services is a Pita. If you don’t care about why I do, just skip to after the quote. I own a small household wind turbine that is legally required to be serviced, by a licensed company, annually. Finding someone who was licensed as well as not a huge jackass, incompetent, or both, was difficult. Buying the electricity instead of having the turbine would be detrimental to our economy.

they are high-maintenance so we don’t deal with them any more’

It does sound counter intuitive, unless you put that excuse in context of the pellet prices excuse.

If pellet prices made using a pellet burning stove non viable, then demand for service is dwindling. With little demand for service keeping a stock of parts is too expensive, that means at least two trips to the customer, one for diagnostics and one for repairs.

Some equipment need special tools, and with little demand those tools can be hard to justify the cost of.

Then there’s training, same as with the tools. Why keep yourself updated if you’re only to need it twice a year?

Couldn’t a business just mark up their prices on parts and labor? Well they could… but then there’s the final nail in that coffin: customers. If repair X used to be Y dollars, and now it’s 3*Y, because of the above reasons, then you need to explain and defend the price, while ultimately also be getting a reputation of being expensive and difficult to work with.

So it’s just better for the business to just refuse the job.

If the company that made the stove is still in business, maybe they can send you towards an authorized dealer that still sells and services the stoves? Alternatively you can do what I usually do: find a service manual, hope for the best, and take it from there. Although a stove is one of the things I’d rather not mess with by myself.

Arghblarg, 8 months ago

Yeah I figure that’s sadly why all these dealers I spoke to don’t want to touch it. They may not have any staff currently trained up on them now, plus if they don’t stock parts any more… it’s no longer worth their time. I’m really surprised though, as I thought pellet stoves were still quite popular on the island (though they’re all older installs now, I guess…)

A fireplace is not a throwaway item though; I had hoped the company that installed it for the home’s previous owners (only 12 years ago) would still at least look at it. They were willing to 4 years ago and didn’t mention anything about dropping pellet stoves entirely at the time.

Well, anyhow I hope I can keep the unit going – replacement part was approx. $18, so worth a try before considering replacing with a propane fireplace that I was quoted at 6-7K (eeks!) It’s been great the last 10 years, a really dependable unit.